Five weeks, five different winners

It didn’t quite have the impact that last year’s Joey Logano-Denny Hamlin tussle in the closing laps did, but Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway offered a new twist to an already engaging start to the 2014 season.

If your tires didn’t hold up, you were in for a long, long day.

When all was said and done, Kyle Busch was the one who had enough good fortune — read: tires — to become the fifth straight different driver to get to Victory Lane and pick up his Chase security blanket for the rest of the season.

While Busch was keeping his head while the rest of the field was losing theirs, Hamlin wasn’t even around to partake in the madness. He was a late scratch from the race due to a sinus infection that impacted his vision.

Considering the volume of tires that kept falling apart in the late stages Sunday, it was probably for the better.

The first victim — and probably the most surprising one — was Jimmie Johnson. Mr. Six-Time led 104 laps, but lost his left-front tire with five to go.

The green flag stayed out, but the chaos was just beginning.

On lap 197 of 200, Brad Keselowski lost his left rear tire. The race stayed green.

Then when Clint Bowyer lost his left rear tire and spun with two to go, it set up the shootout to the finish.

And as Busch grabbed the brass ring, he nearly got a big-time scare from Kyle Larson, the Cup rookie who was going for a weekend sweep. Busch got his No. 18 Toyota just in front of Larson’s No. 42 on the final lap and held on by .214 seconds.

Five races, five different winners. All with unique and engaging performances.

What’s next as we head to Martinsville? I can’t wait to find out.

-Speaking of Larson, he only led 17 laps on the day, but held on for his first career NASCAR win in the Treatmyclot.com 300 Nationwide race Saturday at Fontana, Calif.

In what will be a season-long theme, here’s your courtesy update on how the Nationwide regulars fared against the Cup guys…

While Cup drivers finished in the top four spots — Larson, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano (who led 96 of the 150 laps) — the Nationwide regulars were able to grab half of the top 10 spots in the final finishing order.

Elliott Sadler was fifth, followed by Chase Elliott (sixth), Ty Dillon (eighth), Trevor Bayne (ninth) and Regan Smith (10th). Matt Kenseth was the other top-10 finisher among the Cup regulars in seventh.

Smith and Bayne share the point lead in the Nationwide Series after five races, while Dillon is six points off the pace.

-I’ll be down in Las Vegas for next Sunday’s eliminations at the SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at LVMS, so please check out my blog entries on thespectrum.com and follow me on Twitter @Tomzsports for all the latest.

But if you plan on watching the eliminations on TV, use my tweets as your viewing guide to cheer on your favorite.

Tom Zulewski’s “Through the Gear Box” column appears in this space every Monday. He visits “Racing Fan Radio,” hosted by Shane Beck, every Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. on 1320 KFAN, 1320KFAN.com and the new 1320 KFAN app.

Email Tom at tzulewski@thespectrum.com or follow on Twitter @Tomzsports.